Vector
by sinemoras09
Summary: AU. Maybe it wasn't destiny, but it feels close enough. Kimimaro x Anko. 50 sentences written for the 1sentence livejournal meme. Spoilers for episode 126.


_Author's note: written for the 1sentence challenge meme from the lj community. I'm doing Kimimaro/Anko, because apparently I'm the only one who ships them. LOL. Warnings for fluff, OOC-ness, and so much WAFF it'll make your teeth hurt. Don't say I didn't warn you :P  
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**01. Ring**

When she finds him, she is greeted by a forest of bones, a ring of white thrusting upwards into the mouth of the sky; he's still as death but his eyelids flutter, and if Anko concentrates hard enough, she can just barely feel him start to breathe.

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**02. Hero**

Tsunade can hardly call her a hero, but when Anko shows up at the gates of Konoha, dragging the Kaguya by the shoulders and hollering for some fucking _help_, well Tsunade can't help but think heroes can be misguided sometimes, and she shakes her head and huffs, annoyed.

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**03. Memory**

Kimimaro doesn't remember much, only the vague sensation of warming chakra plied to his skin, the feel of cool hands and someone shouting orders in the background, and he wonders dimly when his memory began to fail him.

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**04. Box**

After he's been shackled and interrogated, half-beaten and nearly tortured to death for answers, ANBU declares he is no longer a threat, and Anko personally delivers the box with all his things, then leads him into the light outside.

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**05. Run**

There are nights when Anko has nightmares where she dreams of Orochimaru and running through the Forest of Death, and she wakes wide-eyed at her post, shaking in the moonlight while Kimimaro watches her silently, green eyes peering at her from behind the prison bars.

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**06. Rain**

Slowly, Anko pulls off her mask, closing her eyes and reveling in the feel of rain falling onto her skin, but she feels him step behind her, hands brushing against her shoulders and leaning her body close to his.

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**07. Wings**

He shows her a small fragment of bone, polished smooth and fitting squarely in his palm, but Anko laughs, saying it looks like angel's wings, and Kimimaro's mouth quirks into a smile.

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**08. Cold**

They both know what it's like, to be chosen and special, only to be rejected and left alone in the cold; somehow it feels a little less lonely this way.

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**09. Red**

"What are these red marks?" Anko asks, and Kimimaro gravely tells her they are his _maro mayu_, a symbol of his clan, before she reaches up and accidentally smudges them with her fingers.

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**10. Drink**

Through the window, Tsunade watches Anko and Kimimaro walking together in the courtyard, before grimacing and tossing back a drink, complaining loudly to everyone that only an idiot would willingly fraternize with a prisoner, before Shizune delicately points out that Kimimaro was taken under the auspices of Konoha, and wasn't it her idea, anyway? ("I didn't ask you!" Tsunade says, and groans loudly when she spies Anko starting to hold his hand).

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**11. Midnight**

Some nights, Anko wakes at midnight to the sound of Kimimaro coughing, so she presses her body against his back and holds him, rubbing his shoulders and plying healing chakra into his lungs, whereas other nights Kimimaro wakes to Anko having nightmares, so he curls his body around hers and does the same.

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**12. Temptation**

As it turns out, Kimimaro's sickness is related to his Kekkai Genkai--Tsunade explains it is like the Uchiha using his Mangekyo Sharingan and going blind from overuse, similarly the Shikotsumyaku takes an awful toll on the body, pushing the user closer to the throes of death--and Anko asks if he is tempted to use his ability again, and Kimimaro shakes his head, no.

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**13. View**

Orochimaru once said all the world's jutsu was within his view, and Anko thinks of how he switched from body to body, and how he took Kimimaro and threw him out like so much trash, and whenever she thinks of it she curls up around him and holds him tight, because even though he's unbreakable, all she wants to do is keep him safe.

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**14. Music**

"I don't like music," Kimimaro says, and Anko doesn't understand why until Iruka whispers something about Sound Nin, and _how_ could you not know that about him, _geez_, and Anko is embarrassed she didn't realize it, sooner.

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**15. Silk**

When Kimimaro undresses her, he thinks she should be covered in silk, not the long mesh of chain mail wrapping her body, but when he tells her this she laughs, telling him she'd rather be naked, thanks, and she teases him when she sees him blush.

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**16. Cover**

She traces the cursed mark on his chest with her fingertips, frowning a little before covering it with her hand, her own cursed mark throbbing at her shoulder.

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**17. Promise**

The alarm is going but Anko doesn't want to get up, so Kimimaro gently reminds her that she is meeting Iruka and she promised she wouldn't be late, to which Anko replies that some promises were meant to be broken, before flopping back and burying into Kimimaro's side.

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**18. Sacred**

Kimimaro doesn't talk about it much, but Anko knows how much it must have hurt, being Orochimaru's sacred vessel, and then being so easily replaced.

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**19. Candle**

Some nights, when Anko is sleeping and everything is just so still, Kimimaro lights a candle by a makeshift shrine, praying for the souls of his clan and praying for Anko's soul, as well.

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**20. Talent**

"You have no talent for cooking!" Anko says, staring at the pot of inedible stew Kimimaro attempted to make, when Kimimaro kisses her on the cheek and sweetly reminds her that of the two of them, her cooking was worse.

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**21. Silence**

The thing Kimimaro loved most, other than holding her and keeping her close, was the way her mouth would gasp open into a silent moan, how her skin would feel damp and warm and her legs would tighten against him.

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**22. Journey**

The faculty at the Konoha Academy buzz with the newest gossip, that Anko is dating one of Orochimaro's former subordinates, but Iruka shakes his head and lets them talk, because for all the scandal and inappropriateness of it, he knows it's been a long journey for them both, and they deserve to be at least a little bit happy.

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**23. Fire**

ANBU had lectured her, "The safety of the Fire Country supersedes all else," so that night Anko takes the forehead protector and shoves it against Kimimaro's chest, telling him he'd better _damn_ well start wearing it, because they keep bugging her and didn't he pledge allegiance a month ago, already? ("I pledged to no one, just to you," Kimimaro tells her gravely, and Anko rolls her eyes, tying on the _hitai-ite_ herself).

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**24. Strength**

Kimimaro sits in the dark, wondering where his strength has gone, when Anko opens the door and waves a jar of peanut butter in front of his face, asking him if he could open it for her.

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**25. Mask**

He keeps his face a practiced mask, but when Anko laughs or touches his hand, Kimimaro can't help but start to smile.

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**26. Ice**

"Ugh, your skin feels like _ice_," Anko says, and in retaliation Kimimaro practically bulldozes into her, wrapping his cold arms around her and prompting an outraged laugh out of Anko's throat.

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**27. Fall**

They don't make love so much as grapple together, laughing and grinning and nearly nearly falling off the bed afterwards.

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**28. Body**

When Anko lies against his chest, tracing the pale blue veins beneath his skin, she can't help but think his body is beautiful, and wonders why he should feel so broken inside.

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**29. Formal**

Sometimes, when Kimimaro greets her politely at the door, Anko can't help but throw her arms around him, pressing her face against his neck and asking why he he's got to be so goddamn _formal_.

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**30. Forgotten**

The one good thing about being together, besides the obvious like sex and companionship, is knowing that neither one of them will be forgotten.

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**31. Dance**

"I do not dance," Kimimaro says, but Anko grabs his hands and tells him all his stupid jutsus are named after dances anyway, so what the hell's the big deal?

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**32. Farewells**

Anko does not like farewells, and isn't the least bit surprised when she finds out Kimimaro does not like them, either.

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**33. World**

The world was afraid of him, but when Anko sighs and buries her face against his chest, the world did not seem half as cruel.

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**34. Dream**

She dreams of Orochimaru, but she's glad Kimimaro's there when she wakes up.

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**35. Fever**

She nearly loses it when Kimimaro falls ill again, pressing ice cubes to his face and trying not to cry as the fever rages through his body; when he gets better she yells at him for making her worry so much.

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**36. Laugh**

Iruka and Kotetsu joke about Anko's temper, and Kotetsu laughs and points out that Kimimaro's made of bone, that woman couldn't break him if she tried, to which Iruka replies, "You don't know her very well."

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**37. Lies**

"Everything he told me was lies," Anko says, and she starts to cry as Kimimaro holds her silently, the memory of Orochimaru still fresh in her mind.

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**38. Forever**

"You're taking _forever_," Anko says, while Kimimaro considers whether or not sparring with his lover is the best idea, especially since said lover is wearing next to nothing, and Kimimaro would rather just go to bed.

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**39. Overwhelmed**

The first time they made love, when Kimimaro pushed up inside her and buried his face against her neck, he was overwhelmed with feelings he didn't understand, and he was afraid that she too would cast him aside once this was through.

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**40. Whisper**

It's early morning when Anko realizes there is something she hasn't told Kimimaro yet, so she kisses the mark on his chest and whispers into his ear.

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**41. Wait**

"Will you wait for me?" Kimimaro asks, and Anko knows he's thinking about getting vengeance and he's about to leave, so she grips his arm and tells him flatly, no she won't, because she's coming with him, and he's stupid if he thinks he's going alone.

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**42. Talk**

The talk doesn't sink in; Anko wakes to cold sheets and an open window, and she draws the covers up over herself, hoping he will be okay.

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**43. Search**

The search for Sasuke deepens, and Kimimaro disappears; months pass before he surfaces again, face gaunt and letting Anko throw herself into his arms.

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**44. Hope**

Anko is at turns angry and relieved, alternating between kissing and hugging him and then beating him with her fists, because even though she hoped and prayed that he would be safe, he shouldn't have left in the first place, the stupid jerk.

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**45. Unknown**

Maybe because the homecoming is so overwhelming, but it's a few hours before Kimimaro even notices the slight bump in Anko's belly, and Anko rolls her eyes and informs him flatly that with everything they've been doing, things like this were not unknown to happen.

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**46. Gravity**

Anko used to be a shinobi who defied gravity, but now, six months swollen with a dazed but happy Kimimaro by her side, she grits her teeth as she's barely able to move.

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**47. Freedom**

Kimimaro reverently touches Anko's belly and says, "I am not the last," and tears fill his eyes because here, alone in the room with her, he finally has the freedom to cry.

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**48. Heart**

Maybe because he finally got his wits about him, but Kimimaro realizes that he never told Anko how he feels, but when he starts to say the words Anko cuts him off: he wears his heart on his sleeve, she's known for a long time, and Kimimaro can't help but smile.

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**49. Lock**

In Anko's opinion, hugging Kimimaro is the best, because their limbs lock tightly around each other and he holds her like he never wants to let go, but also because she knows what it's like to feel lonely, and she's happy she'll never have to feel that way again.

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**50. Breathe**

Some nights, when everything is still and the moonlight spills through the window, Kimimaro will hitch Anko close and watch her breathe, silently counting the rise and fall of her chest and tracing the bruises under her eyes, thankful that they've found each other.

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**A/N: so if it's not obvious, I ship Kimimaro/Anko like WHOA. I almost didn't post this, except for the fact that as of now, there are no Kimimaro/Anko fic on FFN, which makes me a very sad panda. (I'm actually working on a longer fic based on these sentences. Who knows if I actually finish it or not, but in any case these were a lot of fun to write, lol :)  
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